Knights fall in overtime to Truett, 73-71

LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews University men’s basketball team suffered their second straight home loss to conference foe Truett-McConnell University (Ga.) by two points in overtime, 73-71, on Thursday.

The highlight of the game was Knights’ junior point guard Christian Lathan hitting a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of regulation to tie the game at 61 to send it into overtime.

Truett got out to a great start in the first half taking a 17-8 before the Knights went on a 17-10 run to trail by just two, 25-27, at the half. St. Andrews shot 30 percent in the first half while Truett shot 29 percent and was 1-of-8 from three.

St. Andrews went on another run in the second half taking an eight point, 36-28, with 14 minutes to play. Truett slowly trimmed the Knights until it was gone and the Bears held a one-point advantage 47-46 with seven minutes left. The teams traded the lead back and forth before Truett managed to take the three-point lead, 61-58, courtesy of trips to the free-throw line.

The Knights took a slim one-point lead halfway through overtime but eventually fell by two as Lathan’s three at the buzzer clanked off the rim.

Lathan led the Knights with a career-high 25 points with four assists and seven rebounds on 10-of-27 shooting. Senior forward Jordan Hines and freshman forward Luis Rossi had 10 and 11 points respectively.

Junior guard Andrew Rodriguez as he finish with a team-high 11 rebounds and four assists along with two blocks and eight points. Freshman forward Jean Ahoume had five rebounds and three blocks defensively. Forwards Darius Huff and Jeremias Easterling also combined for 17 rebounds and 11 points.

The Knights fall to 1-4 overall and 1-3 in the conference while Truett improves to 8-2 overall and 3-2 in the AAC.

St. Andrews is back in action on Saturday at 2 p.m. as they travel to Tennessee to play conference foe Bryan College (Tenn.).